'Anabta, Ar-Ras, Jubara (Kafriat), Qalqiliya, Thu 25.9.08, Afternoon
Jubara (between the territories and Israel) 3PM
There
is a line of 24 vehicles of Israeli Palestinians leaving the
territories for Israel. The line for Jewish Israelis is empty at the
moment. We enter the CP and go right to the gate to the village of
Jubarrah and it is locked. We wait a few minutes for the soldiers to
open it up for us. They tell us that once we enter there is no return
Children's Gate 3:07PM
We
pass through the Children's Gate at the exit to the village of Jubara
on our way to A Ras. One soldier says we don't have permission to pass
but the other one immediately said we did. There were no detainees
at
this time.
A Ras 3:08PM—3:16PM
The
CP is not very busy at this time. Vehicles from both directions are
checked casually and it takes less then a minute to check each vehicle.
There are about 3 or 4 vehicles in each direction during the time we are here.
The
road from the direction of Qalqilyia is still very rough and the
vehicles entering the CP have to go very slowly and carefully to avoid
the holes.
A
soldier refuses to let a taxi go up toward the village of Jubarrah to
pick up a woman with a basket on her head who we can see walking from
the village to the CP. However, the Commanding Officer interferes and
lets the taxi go to pick her up.
Children's Gate 3:17PM
There
is a vehicle being checked as it leaves Jubara and 10 young men
leaving Jubarrah are standing on a very straight line about 50 meters
from the CP. They appear to be young men who have worked in Israel and
are returning home.
We pass the CP and wait about 100 meters away to watch what will happen.
The
first man on line lifts his shirt and turns around before approaching
the soldier. Then the soldier checks his bag, his pockets, his shoes,
and his ID before letting him continue toward A Ras. This is the
procedure and it takes a few minutes for each person.
3:23PM
Another 4 young men join the line. One young man with a large tote bag
is told to dump all the clothes on the ground, the soldier then takes
the bag and shakes it out, and gives the clothes on the ground a kick.
This check takes about 5 minutes.
3:27PM
A few young men who have arrived yell out that they have permits and
are allowed to come to the head of the line. These other young men,
then, are Palestinians who have been working in Israel without permits.
Each of the young men with permits are also checked but it goes faster.
3:33PM We leave the Children's Gate and return through the village of Jubara to the main checkpoint.
Jubara 3:36PM
Since the gate is locked we must try to get the soldiers' attention. We call, we beep our horn and they ignore us. A jeep comes by with 3 soldiers who make an obscene sign with their fingers. At 3:41PM a soldier comes and opens up the gate. There are now 12 vehicles on the Israeli Palestinian line toward Israel.
Anabta 3:52PM
There is a long line of about 18 vehicles entering Tul Karem. It takes 7 minutes for the 18th
vehicle to pass through the CP. The checking seems to be very casually
with a question or two and a wave of the hand. IDs are not checked.
Israeli Palestinians are allowed through.
There are about 10 vehicles from Tul Karem and that line is also moving with random checking.
4:00PM
When
we leave there are 12 vehicles on line from TK and 21 vehicles entering
TK. We are told by a Palestinian at the CP that the traffic is the
worst at 6:00PM.
Qalqilyia 6:00PM
Traffic is moving in both directions. Israeli Palestinians are allowed in with their vehicles.
At
the main CP from the territories to Israel there are about 20 young
Palestinian men sitting on the ground near a police car at the checking
booth.